...even as the team collapsed, the statistical models kept telling Boston fans to keep calm. "Before we all freak out about an epic Boston choke, lets head over to coolstandings.com for a dose of reality, wrote USA Todays Gabe Lacques on September 16. They have done us the favor of simulating the rest of the season 1 million times to determine every teams chances of postseason play. And they still put the Red Soxs chances at . . . 88.7 percent to make the playoffs." Twelve days later, Boston really did get a dose of reality. On the morning of September 28, the final day of the season, the team found itself tied with Tampa for the last playoff spot. That night, the Red Sox led Baltimore 32 in the seventh inning; then a torrential downpour delayed the game for nearly 90 minutes. After play resumed, Baltimore scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. Just moments later, Tampa capped a miraculous comeback from a 70 deficit against the Yankees -- winning the game in the tenth inning, clinching the final playoff spot, and sending the Red Sox home for a dismal winter. As the magnitude of the collapse sank in, nobody put it better than the Boston Globes Pete Abraham on Twitter: "I think my days of looking at Cool Standings or the Baseball Prospectus playoff odds are over with.

12 posted on 04/17/2013 6:33:53 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
(Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)